


we've still got time

by potato_writes



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, High School Reunion, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, jaime's not very good at this emotions thing but can we really blame him?, meeting again after a long time apart, mostly - Freeform, this is both very ambiguous and very unrealistic but that's fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26695450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potato_writes/pseuds/potato_writes
Summary: Jaime really doesn’t want to be at his old high school right now, socializing with his old classmates in the gym that looks like it hasn’t changed since they graduated twenty years ago.Twenty years after high school, Jaime and Brienne meet each other once again.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57





	we've still got time

**Author's Note:**

> listen. sometimes you have a terrible afternoon and need to write something soft to comfort yourself. I know this is an oddly specific need, but it helped me so I'm not going to read too much into it. also I'm quite literally posting this at 2 in the morning so I cannot be held accountable for any mistakes in this. it is the law.
> 
> title from Once, because I apparently can only do things one way and one way only. also I'm on Tumblr as [potatothecat](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/potatothecat), if you care to come and find me.
> 
> enjoy, hopefully!!

Jaime really doesn’t want to be at his old high school right now, socializing with his old classmates in the gym that looks like it hasn’t changed since they graduated twenty years ago. He’s never been big on nostalgia, nor is he one of those people who looks back on his high school days as ‘the best of his life’. So being here right now, listening to people he hasn’t spoken to in years go on and on about “the good old days” and how fondly they recall their days here at King Aegon High now that they’re adults with jobs and families and have had twenty years to paint high school in a gilded sheen that makes it seem far lovelier than it really was.

It’s not that Jaime hated high school, or that he never wants to reminisce on those days long gone. In truth, he doesn’t mind laughing about past antics or amusing memories over a couple drinks with Addam, or with Oberyn and Elia whenever he visits them down in Dorne. But he has to be in a particular mood to do that, and he’s not really in that kind of mood right now.

Besides, high school wasn’t nearly as great as some of his former classmates are making it out to be. He spent most of those years learning techniques to cope with his dyslexia since his father refused to acknowledge something might be ‘wrong’ with his perfect eldest son and trying to get out from under the thumb of his controlling twin sister—who, thank the Seven, didn’t bother to show up tonight. Not all his memories are fond ones, and he doubts he’s wrong when he imagines everyone here feels that way.

Not that anyone’d be able to tell from the way Lysa Tully—or is it Arryn? He can never remember if she’s divorced or not—is talking right now. If she’s to believe, high school was perfect, a golden time where nothing went wrong, when even uncaring teachers and excessive homework could be handled with ease. He makes eye contact with her sister Catelyn and they both roll their eyes at the same time, a gesture that assures him it’s perfectly acceptable to wander away from that group in order to find more food.

The reunion hasn’t been _that_ terrible, if he’s going to be completely honest. It’s been an age since he spoke to Catelyn, who he used to be quite friendly with in school, and there’s several other people—Jon Connington, Loras Tyrell, Dany Targaryen—who he quite literally hasn’t spoken to since they graduated. Plus he got to bear witness to the absolutely glorious moment when Addam and Oberyn realized they hooked up at a bar once right after uni ended. That alone made it worth coming.

Plus, there’s Brienne. 

Another person he hasn’t spoken to in years, they used to be—well, not super close, but they were reasonably good friends considering the only common factor they shared at the time was a friendship with Catelyn. But, like most of their grad class, they fell out of contact soon after they left King’s Landing, with her going to Storm’s End and him going to Lannisport. The advent of social media has seen them following each other and occasionally commenting on each other’s posts, but nothing more than that.

Which is a shame, because seeing her again has reminded him of exactly why he had a major crush on her throughout most of high school.

(“I don’t get it,” Tyrion says to him one afternoon, a few days before the reunion. “If you liked her so much in school, why’d you never ask her out?”

Addam snorts into his beer at this, shaking his head. “You know, I’d think that you’d know the answer to this one, since he’s your brother.”

Jaime glares at them both, but grudgingly answers when Tyrion cocks his head to the side in the manner that means he’s not going to give this up any time soon. “There wasn’t any time, alright? She was taking a bunch of advanced courses, and I was just trying to scrape by without failing half my classes. Anyone who had time to date in high school was only doing the bare minimum of their classwork, and none of those relationships worked out anyways.”

“Ned and Catelyn did,” Addam points out like the fucker that he is. “Who’s to say you and Brienne would have been different?”

Tyrion’s nodding, which disappoints Jaime. He’s come to realize over the years that his little brother isn’t nearly as clever as he likes to think he is, as he seemed back when anyone smarter than Jaime seemed like a genius to him. Tyrion’s still smarter than him, of course, but some of his more recent choices have had Jaime wondering what exactly was going through his brother’s head when he made that decision.

“There’s a lot of factors involved,” he says instead of any of that. “Besides, Cersei would never have let me date someone like Brienne at the time. She couldn’t even tolerate me being friends with her.”

Tyrion shakes his head, looking mournfully into his own beer. “Well, we’re all grateful Cersei’s off with her husband in Storm’s End and won’t be coming around for this little reunion. I imagine even Brienne would be glad if she were to hear about that, provided she’s coming to the reunion, of course.” 

That’s the end of it, at least for a while. It’ll resurface once the reunion happens, he knows, but at least they’ll leave him alone about his pathetically non-existent love life for a couple days.)

Anyways, Brienne hasn’t changed a bit in terms of appearance. She’ll never be what anyone considers pretty—even Jaime’s able to admit that, though he hates doing so—and the years since high school haven’t done her any favours. But she carries herself with more confidence now, the product of a solid career in marine biology and enough years between her and high school to make the bullies like Cersei seem petty and small.

He supposes most of them have grown in that way, with enough experience to know that many of their high school issues can be solved with therapy or, in some less conventional cases, alcohol. He doesn’t recommend the second solution, not after seeing both of his siblings fall into alcoholism on various occasions. But he can’t control everything, something he had to learn a long time ago. 

With most of his classmates, the change isn’t that noticeable, maybe a subtle straightening of the spine, a taller posture. But with Brienne, it’s like night and day, like she shed the skin of the shy girl she used to be and grew into this confident woman he barely recognizes, this woman who he can hardly believe is real she’s so incredible.

(Gods, Addam is going to mock him mercilessly for that comment later, since he made the mistake of saying so in front of his friend when Brienne first walked in. It’s worth it, though, to see her like this, so incredible and confident.)

So yeah, his long-slumbering crush has come back full force now that he’s seen her again. He’s still not going to do anything about it, though, no matter how much Addam pushes him to. He doesn’t know if she’s dating someone, or if she’s not interested in him or anyone else, or if she’s maybe discovered she prefers women over men. She wouldn’t be the only one to discover their sexuality well past high school.

“Jaime! Gods, how long has it been?”

It’s only years of having Tyrion pull the exact same trick that keep him from jumping when Brienne’s voice rings out from behind him. He quickly turns to face her, trying not to seem too eager as he nods at her, smiling what he hopes is an appropriately friendly smile. “Brienne! It’s been far too long. I think we last saw each other in person a couple weeks after graduation in the grocery store?”

She laughs, far more freely than she used to back in high school. “Well, that explains it then. You look different than you did in high school, like you finally finished growing up.”

“So do you,” he says, then winces. “I mean…you look better. More certain of yourself than you did in high school. It suits you.”

He wants to stab himself in the foot at that, but she merely smiles again. “Thank you. I’ll admit, it took me a long time to get to that point. But therapy helped, as did my job, and I ended up reconnecting with some people from school a few years ago which made everything much easier. Speaking of which, Margaery told me to tell you it’s not fair that you got hotter since we graduated. And Renly wants you to leave something for the rest of us so we don’t all start feeling insecure whenever you walk into a room.”

It’s his turn to laugh as she relays her friends’ words. “Glad to see they haven’t changed a whit. Also glad to hear that Renly finally came out, too. He spent far too much time dating Margaery when he clearly cared more for her brother than he ever could for her.”

Brienne nods, taking a seat at a nearby table and gesturing for him to join her, which he does. “It was good for him to do that, I think. Even if it cost him his relationship with Robert, but Robert’s a piece of shit anyways.”

“Don’t I know it,” he mutters, rolling his eyes. “I have the misfortune of having him as a goodbrother, though thankfully my sister doesn’t come around very much. But enough about Robert. How have you been?”

He doesn’t consider how broad that question is until it’s too late, but fortunately Brienne seems to take it in stride. “I’ve been good, actually. I really like what I’m doing for work, and I get enough time off to be able to visit my dad fairly often. How about you, though? I never actually learned what you do for a living despite having followed you for as long as Facebook’s been a thing.”

“I’m an engineer. Software. I enjoy it, though it’s probably not as exciting as what you do. But it takes me around most of Westeros, and it’s definitely better than working for my fucking father of all people.”

She nods slowly, still smiling. He never saw her smile this much in high school. He kind of likes seeing her so happy. “I’m glad to hear it. How’s your brother doing? I heard there was an incident of some kind last year, though I never found out how it ended.”

Jaime can’t help but wince, though he can’t fault her for being curious. “He’s doing pretty well despite currently being on house arrest. The situation still hasn’t resolved, and unfortunately probably never will due to who was involved in it. Tyrion claims he doesn’t deserve any of this, but I’m not fully certain if he’s telling the truth anymore. I wish I could tell you more, but there’s a whole confidentiality thing involved that I can’t get around. The whole thing sucks though, both for us and for, well, the other half of the incident.”

To her credit, Brienne doesn’t press for more information and merely nods. “And you’re still friends with Addam, right? I figured you might be, since you show up on each other’s feeds so much and both went to Lannisport together.”

“We’ve somehow managed to stay friends despite everything,” Jaime tells her, grinning broadly when his gaze meets Addam’s from across the room. “Even dated for a while, though he ended up meeting someone else after about a year. I still meet up with Elia and Oberyn every time I’m in Dorne, too.”

They continue talking, the conversation meandering from polite inquiries about close friends and family to anecdotes and stories from work and their days in school to heartfelt confessions about the struggles of the past twenty years. Before Jaime knows it, Addam’s standing over him with his coat slung over his arm, gesturing to the slowly departing crowd. 

“C’mon, Jaime,” he says, a laughing note in his tone. “You’ve been talking to Tarth for hours now. It’s high time we left, especially since your brother’s going to be getting antsy all by himself in your apartment.”

Jaime stands up regretfully, looking down at Brienne. “I guess I have to go now, since Addam clearly can’t wait a moment longer. It was wonderful talking to you, though. We should do this again some time, without the pressure of a school reunion forcing us together.”

“We should,” Brienne agrees, before shooting a sharp look at Addam. “Listen, before you leave, can I talk to you about something personal for a second?”

Addam disappears almost immediately as Jaime nods, though Jaime knows he won’t go too far. “What do you need to talk about?”

She fiddles with a napkin for a moment, avoiding his gaze for the first time since they started talking. “Jaime, I know you probably don’t remember this, but back in our junior years of high school I used to have this crush on Renly. It was foolish, everyone knew he was gay even if he didn’t feel comfortable acknowledging it. You probably remember that part, but what you might not remember is that you were the one who told me it was fine, that everyone has unobtainable crushes at one point or another.”

He does remember that conversation, actually. He’d been talking about his crush on Brienne at the time, since she seemed so far off, an untouchable figure he could never truly make contact with. He won’t tell her that now, though, especially since she’s already drawing in a deep breath, preparing to move on.

“Well, I eventually grew past my crush on Renly—thankfully, since that would have made things awkward when we reconnected six years ago. I ended up with what I thought was another unobtainable crush, though, on someone I eventually lost contact with despite always regretting that I did.”

No. She’s not talking about him. She _can’t_ be. 

She fixes him with a firm look, freezing him in place. “I never told you this, because my strategy for dealing with crushes at the time was to refuse to ever acknowledge I felt that way to the person I was interested in at the time. But I guess that didn’t work out too well for me, because when Margaery was talking about how you got hotter, she wasn’t just saying that to be funny. She was saying that because she knows…she knows that I never really got over my feelings for you. And you don’t have to say anything, or talk to me ever again, but I’ve been living with that for a long time, and I just wanted to tell you that tonight before we maybe never see each other again.”

He doesn’t know what to say for a long moment, not until his face splits with a grin that probably looks a little maniacal. “Brienne, I’ve had a, well, a thing for you for ages. I just never though you’d be interested in me, so I never said anything. Seeing you again tonight, it brought back all those old feelings full force, and…I’d be amenable, if you wanted to. You know.”

She’s laughing at him now, but it’s not the crueller laugh his siblings use when he’s being particularly stupid. “No, Jaime, I don’t know. Do you mean date? Because I’m more than amenable to that, if you’re interested too.”

“Yes!” he exclaims, way too quickly. “I mean…gods, I’m making a real mess of this aren’t I?”

She smiles again, reaching out across the table to take his hand in hers with a fond look on her face. “It’s alright. I know what you mean. And besides, I’m mostly just relieved to hear you feel the same way. I was terrified you’d laugh at me.”

“I would _never_. I know Cersei would, but I’m not her.”

“I know you wouldn’t, Jaime. But we’re all a little irrational when it comes to our feelings. At least, that’s what my therapist said when I asked.”

He can’t stop grinning, and Addam’s never going to stop making fun of him for this, but he’s genuinely never felt this delighted before. “I’m glad to hear it.”

They both stand, though their hands remain joined for a long while before she finally steps back and waves a little, her cheeks flushing red as she hurries off to join Renly and Loras and Margaery as they prepare to head out. He stares after her for a while, still smiling, until Addam comes up and smacks him on the shoulder. Twice, actually, since he doesn’t notice it the first time.

“Hey, buddy. Stop staring after her and get a move on. I wasn’t kidding about needing to get back soon.”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Jaime says, shoving Addam in the shoulder as they walk towards the exit. “No need to be rude about it.”

Addam laughs, long and loud, and is still laughing as they step out of the school into the parking lot. Jaime kind of wants to shove him again, but then he remembers Brienne, her smile and the warmth of her hand gripped in his, and he’s too busy grinning stupidly to care about his friend mocking him.

He didn’t want to come to this reunion, fought Addam and Tyrion every step of the way when they tried to convince him to come, complained bitterly about it the entire way here. But he’s glad he let himself be dragged in, glad he was able to be here to see Brienne, to create that possibility of something new, something more.

And he knows nothing’s determined yet, that they haven’t even _planned_ a first date, but he feels good about this one. He feels like it might work out, despite the twenty years where they barely spoke, despite the fact that it’s all too new to be certain.

But he has a gut instinct that he’s right, that somehow this will be the one that works out for him. And even if it doesn’t, having the chance to know Brienne again, to know her differently than he did before, it’ll be more than worth the heartbreak that would be leaving her behind once again.

**Author's Note:**

> something I've never understood about high school aus is how they have so much _time_. like, you people have classes and homework and applications and probably jobs, how are you able to have a highly active social life and date on top of all that? maybe I just went to high school too recently, but I don't understand. I certainly didn't have that much time in high school. I was an overachiever back then, but still.
> 
> (wow, I'm referring to high school as 'back then' like it was decades ago. it really wasn't, it just feels like it was.)
> 
> me, writing jaime: I will pepper in the fact that I headcanon this character as bi. I'm really just unstoppable at this point.
> 
> my apologies to Robert Baratheon fans, but I just really hate him.


End file.
